Pride News Canada's Leader In African Canadian & Caribbean News, Views & Lifestyle
By Lincoln Depradine
Pride Contributing Writer
TORONTO, Ontario – Richard Williams, father and former coach of American tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, will be visiting Toronto next month.
He’ll be in the city to launch his book, Black and White: The Way I see It.
Itah Sadu, co-owner of A Different Booklist on Bathurst Street, is involved in coordinating Williams’ visit.
“I’m having him present at the University of Toronto, the Scarborough Campus, with young people who are engaged in sports education through tennis,’’ Sadu told Pride News Magazine.
As part of Williams’ itinerary on August 19, he also will speak to a group of beginning teachers and attend a reception in his honour at A Different Booklist.
Williams and his former wife, Oracene Price, were their daughters’ early coaches.
Both Venus and Serena have held the No. 1 ranking in tennis. Between them, they have won 24 Grand Slam singles.
In “Black and White’’, 72-year-old Williams shares stories of poverty and violence that were part of his early upbringing in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Williams’ memoir also describes a life of struggle, determination, hard work and family; and reveals the lessons he taught Venus and Serena and the plan and vision he executed in making them tennis stars.
